Running Mania

I'm about to hit the "checkout" button on the Vivoactive HR as it seems to be the best "all in one" activity tracker AND GPS/run/bike/swim watch. Right now, I can only find it at full price: $329.99 (on Garmin's site as well as GPScity.ca). I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion on whether I should wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to buy this?

This is a BD present to myself and I'd love to get it by my birthday (early December). I'm worried that if I wait until Black Friday that it won't arrive in time.

I'd wait for Black Friday ??

Amazon.ca offers free s&h and usually very good with return policy if you decide to buy it now and wait till options on Black Friday ??

Someone on the government of alberta classifieds is selling the vivosmart HR for 135. I read the reviews and it looks like a better tracker than my jawbone UP which I'm annoyed by. The only thing I read that I didn't like was that it didn't have workouts for bike or swim (so no lap counting or bike mileage/speed) which seems disappointing for multi sport people.

Here's DC Rainmaker's review: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/05/gar ... eview.html

bnn wrote:The only thing I read that I didn't like was that it didn't have workouts for bike or swim (so no lap counting or bike mileage/speed) which seems disappointing for multi sport people.

I'm not sure what you mean by "workouts." It does have a bike mode and a swim mode and will track speed, distance, laps in the pool, etc. Maybe you're thinking of the VivoSmart?

HCcD wrote:I'd wait for Black Friday ??

Amazon.ca offers free s&h and usually very good with return policy if you decide to buy it now and wait till options on Black Friday ??

The only thing I'd be worried about ordering from Amazon is where it's shipped from. I don't want to be surprised by having to pay duty upon delivery. Not all Amazon.ca stuff is shipped from Canada.

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:I'd wait for Black Friday ??

Amazon.ca offers free s&h and usually very good with return policy if you decide to buy it now and wait till options on Black Friday ??

The only thing I'd be worried about ordering from Amazon is where it's shipped from. I don't want to be surprised by having to pay duty upon delivery. Not all Amazon.ca stuff is shipped from Canada.

True ... I tend to look at the various sellers when purchasing from Amazon.ca, prior to pressing the checkout button ... As the current price is the same, I assume that it is from a Canadian supplier ??

eta: Currently have the version one Garmin Vivoactive for the past year .. it is my go to watch now for everything .. like the idea that if you sync it (Bluetooth) to your ipone/smarphone, you can customize everything and get a quick peak at incoming message, email and who's calling ? Ha !!

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:I'd wait for Black Friday ??

Amazon.ca offers free s&h and usually very good with return policy if you decide to buy it now and wait till options on Black Friday ??

The only thing I'd be worried about ordering from Amazon is where it's shipped from. I don't want to be surprised by having to pay duty upon delivery. Not all Amazon.ca stuff is shipped from Canada.

I just check that it is sold by Amazon (not a third party). Anything that I have bought that is sold/fulfilled by Amazon has been shipped from Canada.

bnn wrote:Someone on the government of alberta classifieds is selling the vivosmart HR for 135. I read the reviews and it looks like a better tracker than my jawbone UP which I'm annoyed by. The only thing I read that I didn't like was that it didn't have workouts for bike or swim (so no lap counting or bike mileage/speed) which seems disappointing for multi sport people.

At that price point ... I would want to clarify with the seller if it is the version 1 model with the external HR strap, vs the current version 2 model which has a built-in HR contacts on the back of the watch ???

Running Room also have them in stock for same price, online ... I am sure that there is a 10% coupon online somewhere or someone that you know who works / instructs at Run Club ? Ha !!!
Well, if you do not currently subscribe to their online email stuff, I believe they do offer a 10% first time purchase when you register ?? Or, volunteer as a Group Leader and/or as a Clinic Speaker ?

Too bad you don't live it Ottawa? Think my local Bushtukah have them in stock .. and, might be able to get a $20-$50 discount with my discount/coupons ???

I like the Garmin 235 a lot better than the vivoactive in its form factor (round face, overall lighter construction). It doesn't do swim metrics, though-- not sure how important that is to you. I got rid of my 910xt when I got the 235, and now that I'm back swimming I miss that a bit. I use it in the water to measure my HR and the length of my workouts.

I do love the wrist-based HRM.

If you have not bought one yet ... GPS Central is having an earlybird Black Friday sale on right now for $199.99

http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/garmin/vivoactiveHR.html

HCcD wrote:If you have not bought one yet ... GPS Central is having an earlybird Black Friday sale on right now for $199.99

http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/garmin/vivoactiveHR.html

Damn. Bought it on sale through Amazon last week.$269.99. It hasn't arrived yet, so maybe I can return it.

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:If you have not bought one yet ... GPS Central is having an earlybird Black Friday sale on right now for $199.99

http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/garmin/vivoactiveHR.html

Damn. Bought it on sale through Amazon last week.$269.99. It hasn't arrived yet, so maybe I can return it.

Actually, Amazon even has it on sale for $199 now! FFS. They were advertising their Black Friday deals were starting last week for a full week. This is BS.

La wrote:

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:If you have not bought one yet ... GPS Central is having an earlybird Black Friday sale on right now for $199.99

http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/garmin/vivoactiveHR.html

Damn. Bought it on sale through Amazon last week.$269.99. It hasn't arrived yet, so maybe I can return it.

Actually, Amazon even has it on sale for $199 now! FFS. They were advertising their Black Friday deals were starting last week for a full week. This is BS.

Doesn't Amazon offer price match / guarantee ?

HCcD wrote:

La wrote:

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:If you have not bought one yet ... GPS Central is having an earlybird Black Friday sale on right now for $199.99

http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/garmin/vivoactiveHR.html

Damn. Bought it on sale through Amazon last week.$269.99. It hasn't arrived yet, so maybe I can return it.

Actually, Amazon even has it on sale for $199 now! FFS. They were advertising their Black Friday deals were starting last week for a full week. This is BS.

Doesn't Amazon offer price match / guarantee ?

i don't think amazon offers price guarantees (except on TVs).

but there's nothing to say you can't just buy it on sale now and return the higher priced one when it arrives (assuming you've passed the 'cancel item' stage of your order). amazon returns are relatively painless, especially since it would be unopened.

Apparently it was delivered today (I'm not at home). I sent Amazon an e-mail to see if they'll honour the discounted price and refund me the difference. If not, I'll simply return it and re-buy the item from GPS Central.

Don't be surprised to see if your local RR Black Friday email sales comes out on Tuesday/Wednesday offers a similar discount? But, based on past experience, probably will be around the $225 range? And, they will not match online sales ?? I suspect that this is an across the board sale from Garmin distributors??

HCcD wrote:Don't be surprised to see if your local RR Black Friday email sales comes out on Tuesday/Wednesday offers a similar discount? But, based on past experience, probably will be around the $225 range? And, they will not match online sales ?? I suspect that this is an across the board sale from Garmin distributors??

I sent an email to Amazon. They have forwarded to the seller and just waiting for a response. If I don't hear back by Friday I will buy the one on sale and return the one I just got (UPS left it on top of my recycling bin, FFS).

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:Don't be surprised to see if your local RR Black Friday email sales comes out on Tuesday/Wednesday offers a similar discount? But, based on past experience, probably will be around the $225 range? And, they will not match online sales ?? I suspect that this is an across the board sale from Garmin distributors??

I sent an email to Amazon. They have forwarded to the seller and just waiting for a response. If I don't hear back by Friday I will buy the one on sale and return the one I just got (UPS left it on top of my recycling bin, FFS).

Hope the watch did not freeze just sitting out there like that? And, yes, RR is offering the same price starting today for Black Friday sales, fyi ...

HCcD wrote:

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:Don't be surprised to see if your local RR Black Friday email sales comes out on Tuesday/Wednesday offers a similar discount? But, based on past experience, probably will be around the $225 range? And, they will not match online sales ?? I suspect that this is an across the board sale from Garmin distributors??

I sent an email to Amazon. They have forwarded to the seller and just waiting for a response. If I don't hear back by Friday I will buy the one on sale and return the one I just got (UPS left it on top of my recycling bin, FFS).

Hope the watch did not freeze just sitting out there like that? And, yes, RR is offering the same price starting today for Black Friday sales, fyi ...

It's not that cold here yet. I was more worried about theft, as that's a problem in my neighbourhood, especially at this time of year.

I've initiated the return process with Amazon. It kills me that the watch has been sitting right in front of me since Monday, yet I can't even use it!

I placed my order through gpscity.ca. It was the same price ($199.99), but the shipping charge was only $7.99 instead of $12.99 with gpscentral.

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:

La wrote:

HCcD wrote:Don't be surprised to see if your local RR Black Friday email sales comes out on Tuesday/Wednesday offers a similar discount? But, based on past experience, probably will be around the $225 range? And, they will not match online sales ?? I suspect that this is an across the board sale from Garmin distributors??

I sent an email to Amazon. They have forwarded to the seller and just waiting for a response. If I don't hear back by Friday I will buy the one on sale and return the one I just got (UPS left it on top of my recycling bin, FFS).

Hope the watch did not freeze just sitting out there like that? And, yes, RR is offering the same price starting today for Black Friday sales, fyi ...

It's not that cold here yet. I was more worried about theft, as that's a problem in my neighbourhood, especially at this time of year.

I've initiated the return process with Amazon. It kills me that the watch has been sitting right in front of me since Monday, yet I can't even use it!

I placed my order through gpscity.ca. It was the same price ($199.99), but the shipping charge was only $7.99 instead of $12.99 with gpscentral.

Figured you would have just walked to your local RR location ??

I thought you said they were $225 at RR?

La wrote:I thought you said they were $225 at RR?

Oh, I was assuming earlier in the week/month that it would be, based on last couple of years ... actually got the weekly email and it is also $199.99, which leads me to figure that it is a Garmin Sale and not a retail thing ...

I was actually going up date this with RR Pricing back on Tuesday/Wednesday but, figured you had gotten a positive response, as you had not updated us, at the time ??

You've bought it so this is kind of irrelevant now, but in case someone is searching, I'll add my two cents.

I like my Vivoactive in general, however, it doesn't allow me to set up the watch for cues for specific workouts, such as warm up, set of timed intervals, cool down. My 305 had that and I know it's available on the more expensive units, but it isn't worth the price difference right now. I also had an issue with the unit going into low battery mode towards the tail end of a trail race this summer. It was fine on my hiking trip in November though (I was running GPS during the day).

BJH wrote:You've bought it so this is kind of irrelevant now, but in case someone is searching, I'll add my two sense.

I like my Vivoactive in general, however, it doesn't allow me to set up the watch for cues for specific workouts, such as warm up, set of timed intervals, cool down. My 305 had that and I know it's available on the more expensive units, but it isn't worth the price difference right now. I also had an issue with the unit going into low battery mode towards the tail end of a trail race this summer. It was fine on my hiking trip in November though (I was running GPS during the day).

Thanks. I'll keep the battery issue in mind.

My goal right now is general health and fitness, not specific events or workouts. I actually never used the workouts feature on my 305 (and I still have it and will use it as a bike computer primarily).